Friday morning was the 10K. I woke up at 3:30 had my tea and cinnamon bread toast and got dressed quickly. I didn’t have to wear makeup for this race because Gail said we would be wearing face paint so that saved me a little bit of time. It was still chilly, but the temperature was nothing compared to the bone chilling cold than it was than the day before. I had to meet Kim, Gail and Becca at 4:30 in the parking lot of Epcot. When I arrived I wasn’t too far from their car so I rushed over there, got dressed into the costume, they did my eyelashes and lipstick and we were on our way to the corrals. The costumes were amazing and warm! They did a great job of putting them together and thankfully with the temperatures, they were nice and warm ponchos to keep us warm while we waited in the corrals.
The 10K course is the same as last year and also the same as the Princess 10K course so I didn’t have many surprises with this course like I did with the 5K. It is a boring out and back through the streets behind Epcot. Within the first mile we had to stop and remove the leg cover part of our costumes because they were falling down and we were running over them more than they were serving their purpose as part of the costumes. They looked amazing, but they were hard to run in and we didn’t want to end up walking most of the 10K.
After we removed our leg wear, we started to run more through the course. We didn’t stop for many character stops; but we did see Mike Scopa and Marci Holland at the Boardwalk! The course was slightly different this year after we re-entered Epcot from the Boardwalk. They moved the corrals so the start was a little sooner; which meant they had to make up the distance. Instead of running straight towards the fountain we did a little area towards The Land and then went through the area towards the fountain and then to the finish line.
I enjoyed the 5K course end the last 2/3 of the 10K course because they ran through Epcot. I have never run another 5K course in Disney before so I can’t compare the course to any other 5K courses. But I did enjoy running both of these races through my 2nd favorite Disney Park.
When we were almost to the finish area, I started to have a little bit of a stomach ache. I blame this on my Raisin Bran dinners. The stomach ache passed and we made our run towards the finish line.
Two races were complete and I just had 2 more left! I was getting excited because it was almost time to call the kids to tell them that they were flying down to see me that day. It was just about 8:00 when I returned to my car.
I had been watching the weather on my phone prior to the race and was thinking that they may have a delay for school or even a snow day because a heavy band of snow was passing through the state. It came up quick and dumped snow starting around 6 a.m. I told my husband that I thought it would be best to not even send them to school since he was going to be picking them up an hour after they got there anyway. They were going to need that extra time to drive up to the airport in case there was traffic. He had the same idea. So once I dropped off my costume at Becca’s car I got to my car and FaceTimed with the kids. We told them that I couldn’t get a flight home because of the snow and they were going to have to fly down to see me. They were completely shocked! Once again we were able to surprise them. I was so happy to surprise them.
I drove back to my hotel, took my time, checked my emails for work, colored my hair and tried to take an Epsom salt bath, but I didn’t have the patience to sit in a tub. Once I showered I set up some surprises for the kids in their room and then went over to the Expo again. I checked in with Jeff Galloway, checked out the Dooney and Bourke purses and then headed out to Target to get any last minute items for the family’s arrival.
I did some work for a couple hours and then went over to the Polynesian for Linda’s meetup. I had a Blue Moon and visited with Kathy who I had run with at the Tower of Terror and then hit the road for the airport at 4:00.
The family landed a little bit early and we would make good time hooking up after they got their bags. I picked them up and they were so excited to be in a mini van! I was so happy to see them and couldn’t wait for all the fun coming up. But I still had 2 races to get through and two early nights with early wake up times so I had to be smart about what and when we went places.
Since I had a hard time deciding what to have for dinner I came up with the idea to go to the Contemporary and eat at the Contemporary Cafe and then take a ride around the loop on the monorail. That was a good decision because I was getting tired of Raisin Bran for dinner and it wasn’t a good choice for me as a pre-race meal. It was yummy, but it was moving through my intestines at the worst times! So I ordered a turkey sandwich and it was really delicious!
We got back to the room around 9:00 and I got myself into bed quickly and was asleep much sooner than the kids. Two races down, just two bigger ones to go! But I was feeling good! I didn’t feel nervous and I was really having a great time!
Coming up next… the Half Marathon recap!